Comments

First, this is the rough mock-up. I know I have spots where I need to blend or airbrush colors to match.

The theme is a line of androids waiting to be called, one is awake. I tried for KISS format.

Is this concept, if properly executed, likely to get me featured on Lousy Book Covers?

Well, I know that the admin of Lousy Book Covers is pretty prejudiced when it comes to "pseudohumans," but I think the mannequin-like quality of such figures works for you in this case since the girls are supposed to be artificially created androids.

What might make the assembly-line effect even more pronounced would be to add two more figures, one on the left and the other on the right, letting them bleed off the edges. This would suggest an endless supply of nearly identical androids (and, I think, enhance the eventual composition). It might also make the single one with open eyes even more startling and eerie (and to this end I would try to make her eyes as vivid and contrasting as possible).

I know you are going to eliminate the cut-and-paste edges but if you could also make the shadows in perspective (they would not be all identical as they now appear) that would be a subtle but nice touch, too.

Nice job! I think that with some good typography you'll have a pretty striking cover!

I guess in another part of the multiverse there is a version of me who does visual art. I do know my one-week crash course in learning how to do the model and then producing a viable work has been a bit frustrating. I'm kind of glad for all the hours I spent as an information analyst / system support, it made things slightly easier -- somewhat like handing me a "Dash One" manual for a B-17, then pointing me toward a B-17 ready to fly, and telling me to get in the bird take off and after one orbit of the field land. I could do it but I'd be sweating a lot.

The mannequin-like quality was (as you have likely already figured out) intentional. I designed a default model android that would appear almost identical regardless of the skin (European, African, Asian, generic Native) used. The skin used will actually alter the facial features slightly.

The artist who did the bodysuit is able to make his models look very human, and I'm not betting I'll ever have that level of either skill or talent.

Hmmm, I might try giving the African android violet or ice-blue eyes, and have the ladies standing at attention to minimize the shadows. That pose would make it easier to add more (to trail off the cover) without reducing their size...

But that will happen after Wife and I do a few things. I woke up for an hour around midnight and did my mock-up then, and now it's time to get back to duty.

I guess in another part of the multiverse there is a version of me who does visual art. I do know my one-week crash course in learning how to do the model and then producing a viable work has been a bit frustrating. I'm kind of glad for all the hours I spent as an information analyst / system support, it made things slightly easier -- somewhat like handing me a "Dash One" manual for a B-17, then pointing me toward a B-17 ready to fly, and telling me to get in the bird take off and after one orbit of the field land. I could do it but I'd be sweating a lot.

The mannequin-like quality was (as you have likely already figured out) intentional. I designed a default model android that would appear almost identical regardless of the skin (European, African, Asian, generic Native) used. The skin used will actually alter the facial features slightly.

The artist who did the bodysuit is able to make his models look very human, and I'm not betting I'll ever have that level of either skill or talent.

Hmmm, I might try giving the African android violet or ice-blue eyes, and have the ladies standing at attention to minimize the shadows. That pose would make it easier to add more (to trail off the cover) without reducing their size...

But that will happen after Wife and I do a few things. I woke up for an hour around midnight and did my mock-up then, and now it's time to get back to duty.

Well, you did a really good job! Especially for as little time as you had.

I think your suggestion about the eyes will be just right!

I wouldn't worry too much about the shadows. Having none at all would look odd.

I would try different colors for the background with some 3D and metallic effects, as well as make the girls slightly smaller or much much bigger. Give the whole thing the feeling of movement. It's too flat. Maybe a slight background texture, a painting/drawing effect using Photoshop...

Think of it like this, I'm kind of like a 9th to 15th century person who can follow instructions on how to do something, as long as those instructions make sense from my perspective. I have Pinta, GIMP, and InkScape, and not a lot of familiarity with them yet.

There is a CG artist in Germany willing to help me figure out how to do some basic stuff, but he has his own stuff to do so it may take a while for me to get a how-to at my level to get that sense of movement.

**Edited to reflect GIMP instead of Gnome. Someone didn't sleep well so I didn't sleep well or long. **

Em_Press wrote:

I would try different colors for the background with some 3D and metallic effects, as well as make the girls slightly smaller or much much bigger. Give the whole thing the feeling of movement. It's too flat. Maybe a slight background texture, a painting/drawing effect using Photoshop...

I think that he rubber-stamped figures with their clearly artificial are not only eerie, they nicely get across the idea of your book (from what I have understood from your descriptions). The intense eyes you've given the one figure really enhances this.

I'm vaguely reminded of a similar effect I tried to accomplish typographically:

I think it's really coming together. The artificiality of the figures...or, perhaps, their clear presence in the uncanny valley...works, I think, toward getting across some of the themes and ideas of your book. The effect is certainly eerie enough. I would suggest, however, really exagerrating the brightness of the eyes of the one figure---even if this means making them unnaturally so---so that they immediately stand out from among the others. I think that it would work in your favor if the viewer's attention went straight toward them.

While the featureless background goes toward enhancing the overall effect, you might want to try experimenting a little with slightly gradated tones.

I really have no clue how to make the eyes brighter, much less gradate the tones.

When it comes to the visual art software aspect, I really am more akin to a gibbon pushing pulling and pounding a keyboard into submission. Hence the reason the Wife called my original attempts "Pathetic".

Ron Miller wrote:

I think it's really coming together. The artificiality of the figures...or, perhaps, their clear presence in the uncanny valley...works, I think, toward getting across some of the themes and ideas of your book. The effect is certainly eerie enough. I would suggest, however, really exagerrating the brightness of the eyes of the one figure---even if this means making them unnaturally so---so that they immediately stand out from among the others. I think that it would work in your favor if the viewer's attention went straight toward them.

While the featureless background goes toward enhancing the overall effect, you might want to try experimenting a little with slightly gradated tones.

For the back, I would be tempted to either repeat the front image on the back (thus leaving a blue stripe for title and author's name along the spine) or else to continue the pattern around the spine and onto the back cover, as one continuous image (skipping the eyes-open unit, so that she appears only on the front).

Also, the blurb on the back cover seems a bit verbose. And the back cover font is too large.

For the back, I would be tempted to either repeat the front image on the back (thus leaving a blue stripe for title and author's name along the spine) or else to continue the pattern around the spine and onto the back cover, as one continuous image (skipping the eyes-open unit, so that she appears only on the front).

Also, the blurb on the back cover seems a bit verbose. And the back cover font is too large.

For the back, I would be tempted to either repeat the front image on the back (thus leaving a blue stripe for title and author's name along the spine) or else to continue the pattern around the spine and onto the back cover, as one continuous image (skipping the eyes-open unit, so that she appears only on the front).

Also, the blurb on the back cover seems a bit verbose. And the back cover font is too large.

I agree: it would be pretty cool to simpy continue the row of girls on across the back cover. It would really emphasize the fact that they are all clones and/or androids. I also agree that you might want to not actually repeat the cover, but rather continue the line of girls, mixing and matching their skin tones as you did on the front cover.

I did a quick mockup after I wrote a blurb for the story a few minutes ago. Playing with catch up (not ketchup), what a mess.

I need to blend the models graphic, then fine tune font size and placement on the back cover, but this is the general idea.

I'll get to that but first I need to delve back into editing. First pass cleaning up crapola since it was pounded out by a gibbon in a hurry. Second pass cleaning up wording and working on one small section where I told rather than showed. What can I say, I was in a hurry and did roughly 40,000 words in less than a week because a reader wanted to know the backstory.

Note: I did get permission from a distant-cousin to use the shield image.